STORM DESCRIPTION
The most significant Christmas Day winter storm since 1966 affected
much of New Jersey with a wintry mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and
rain, and the coast with minor to moderate coastal flooding and very
strong winds. The mix then changed back to snow later on
Christmas Day, resulting in up to 1 foot of accumulation across
northwestern New Jersey.

Synoptic Discussion
On Tuesday, December 24th, an area of low pressure began to develop
over Mississippi. That night, the storm intensified as it moved
northeast. The primary low that originally formed over
Mississippi moved west of the Appalachians and weakened, but a new low
pressure developed near the coast of Virginia around daybreak on
December 25th. As the morning progressed, the center of low
pressure started to track northeast over the Atlantic along a path that
hugged the coast. The storm was just west of Atlantic City during
the afternoon of the 25th. It then accelerated northeastwards and
was just south of Nova Scotia by the morning of the 26th.

Local Discussion
Precipitation began as light snow towards midnight on Christmas Eve,
and some areas in central and southwestern New Jersey recieved a quick
inch with this first part of the storm. As the nor'easter moved
northeast along the Eastern Seaboard, warmer air from the Atlantic and
the south moved in between 3,000 and 8,000 feet above ground
level. This caused precipitation to change over to sleet,
freezing rain, and where surface temperatures were already warm,
rain. Then, warmer air moved in near the ground, changing
precipitation over to plain rain in areas that had formerly been cold
enough for sleet and freezing rain by 9AM EST Christmas Day. The
only exception was in Sussex County where most temperatures remained
below freezing. Because of this, around two-tenths of an inch of
ice accrued on exposed surfaces, along with a minor accumulation of
sleet. By this point, the nor'easter was in the process of
intensifying rapidly along the Middle Atlantic seaboard and both its
precipitation intensity and coverage increased rapidly across the state
during the second half of the morning. During this rapid
intensification, a thundersleet storm developed over Sussex County
between 10AM EST and 11AM EST Christmas Day. Meanwhile, very
heavy flooding rains (which completely melted the snow which had fallen
overnight) were falling further south over Mercer and Somerset
counties, with over 1.5 inches reported at Princeton. As
precipitation intensity continued to increase and winds started to
shift from the northeast to the north, precipitation began to change
back to all snow late Christmas morning and early Christmas
afternoon. This began in Sussex County between 11AM EST and Noon
EST and moved southeast during the early afternoon. Rain changed
back to snow between Noon and 2PM EST in Mercer, Somerset, Morris,
Passaic, and Bergen counties, between 1PM and 3PM EST in Gloucester,
Camden, Burlington, Middlesex, Union, Essex, and Hudson counties, and
between 3PM and 5PM EST in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Areas
further south had trouble changing to all snow and often saw a mix of
snow and rain at times during the afternoon of the 25th, depending
mainly on precipitation intensity. Heavier bands would fall as
snow, but as precipitation lightened it would mix with or change back
to rain. The heaviest snow fell during the afternoon, and there
was even a thundersnow storm in Mercer County around 4PM EST. The
snow lessened in intensity during the evening hours. The heaviest
snow during the afternoon also coincided with the strongest winds as
the nor'easter "bombed" just off the coast, producing wind gusts up to
68 mph in Belmar and well in excess of 50 mph in other sections of
eastern New Jersey. These winds also resulted in brief
near-blizzard conditions across much of the rest of northern and
central New Jersey. The snow ended around Midnight EST Christmas
night. Snow accumulations ranged from 9 to 14 inches in Sussex
County, 6 to 11 inches in Warren, Morris, Passaic and Bergen counties,
4 to 6 inches in Hunterdon, Somerset, Union, Essex, and Hudson
counties, 2 to 4 inches in Mercer, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties,
and 1 to 3 inches in Salem, Gloucester, Camden, Burlington and Ocean
counties. Less than an inch accumulated across Cumberland,
Atlantic and Cape May counties. The strong onshore flow preceding
the storm also produced minor tidal flooding across southern New Jersey
and moderate coastal flooding in Middlesex, Monmouth and parts of
Ocean counties at the time of high tide around Noon EST on Christmas
Day. Heavy rain fell at the time of high tide and exacerbated the
flooding as did flow from inland lakes and rivers. Monmouth
County bore the brunt of the tidal flooding, with moderate flooding
reported in Neptune, Sea Bright, Brielle, Long Branch, Manasquan and
Middletown. Low lying areas along the Raritan Bay also flooded in
Middlesex County. In Ocean County, moderate flooding was reported
in Point Pleasant Beach. Highest tides included 8.73 feet above
mean lower low water at South Amboy, 8.52 feet above mean lower low
water at Keansburg, 7.47 feet above mean lower low water at North
Wildwood, and 7.29 feet above mean lower low water at Atlantic City.

New Jersey Snowfall TotalsIndividual Snowfall Totals from December
24-26, 2002